I once heard a song and it made my head spin. It questioned everything I knew about genre, form and lyrical content. That song was called ‘Too Many Irons in the Fire’ and it was by a band called ‘Cardiacs’. I’d never heard them before, and I’d never heard anything quite like it before. Was it punk? Was it prog? The two can’t go together! Why was the singer singing about flies and sparks nesting in ears? I don’t understand it. Help me! So went my inner monologue. My outward reaction was something along the lines of ‘what the funk?’ I wanted to hear more.

Why am I telling you this? Because the next time I had a similar reaction was upon hearing a track called ‘Action HAVOC’ by an artist called ‘Regal Worm’. It was relentless from the off, winding itself in one ear, wrapping itself around my brain and sliding out of the opposite ear minutes later. It wasn’t the same track all the way through but I didn’t know that at the time. Each track segued into the next but there were so many twists and turns in each that it was hard to know where one ended & the other began, and at the end of it I was a royal tangle of confusion. A Regal Worm indeed. It was enough to make me buy the album, because I knew that I could listen to it until the end of my days and it would sound different every time. The album in question, ‘The Hideous Goblink’, is a carnival of different styles and tempo’s: a victory parade marching across two sides of vinyl with all the mischief, creativity and panache of Zappa, Gong and the best of the Canterbury scene, as well as Cardiacs themselves. Challenging in the best possible way.

If you are not already familiar with the music of Regal Worm there is no point my trying to describe it, it’s best left to you to investigate for yourself. You will find a few snippets below. Rejoice, there is a whole new musical world for you to explore.